NY Wired
COLD OPEN SPIEL (HUFF ERA ONLY): "Hi (everyone), I'm Janice Huff, and welcome to NY Wired from the New York Lottery! Here's our first question! (insert first question and answers) Do you think (name) is correct? We'll find out as we take the polls of New York and give away lots of money on NY Wired!" OPENING SPIEL #1 (after Huff's Cold Open): "Get set New Yorkers, It's time for NY Wired! Tonight, local communities across the state and these 15 lucky lottery winners/players in our studio could win our jackpot which starts up at/will win up to (insert Jackpot amount) on NY WIRED! And here's the host of our show, Janice Huff!" OPENING SPIEL #2: "TV Cash players, are you ready? (insert three players' names), you're playing for the red/blue/yellow team! Then take your positions as we get set to play NY Wired! It's time for NY Wired! Tonight, schools across the state and lucky TV Cash players could win up to thousands of dollars in cash and prizes on NY Wired! And here's the (new) host of our show, Cheryl Washington!" NY Wired was a short-lived lottery game show for the state of New York. Format Qualifying Round Three New York contestants (originally those who all of whom sell lottery tickets in the stores they worked in, then later members of the studio audience representing their team section {more on that later}) played a qualifying round in which they answered survey questions. The host read each question one at a time and gave three possible answers. The first player to buzz-in had a chance to choose one of those answers, the one he/she thought was the most popular answer. A correct answer scored a point, but an incorrect answer gave the other contestants a chance to buzz-in and answer and another incorrect answer from another player gave the remaining player the point by default. The first player to score three points earned the right to play a mini-game for an increasing jackpot which started at $60,000 (later $25,000) and increased by the amount earned in each game until it was won. 2-player mode The second qualifying round was played with the remaining two players and was played a little differently too. This time the survey questions were polled by the audience and were all yes or no or two other choices. On each question, the audience locked in their answers, then the player in control predicted how the majority of the audience answered. A correct answer scored a point, but an incorrect answer gave the opponent the point. The first to score three points (later two points) won. If the round ended in a 1-1 or 2-2 tie, the last question was played in Card Sharks Hi Lo Toss-Up manner; with the first player guessing what percentage of the audience fit a certain criteria, and the other guessing whether the actual percentage was higher or lower than the first player's answer. The winner of the question won the round. The winner of the round won the right to play the next mini-game, and the losing the player received $5,000 (later $2,500). Games Skyscraper To start, the winner of the qualifying round received the shortest building (the Treasury) worth $10,000 (later $5,000). The contestant faced 10 blocks in front of four buildings of different colors. The contestant picked off blocks by number, though what makes this game different is that the numbers were behind those blocks & placed at random. When co-host Scott revealed the chosen number, the color of that block was placed in front of the appropriate building (all based off of New York City landmarks such as the Chrysler Building for $40,000 (later $20,000) and the Empire State Building for the Jackpot). The object of the game was to build the highest skyscraper with the appropriate colored blocks as he/she could. Each time he/she did that, the contestant won some money, and that contestant got the money for the highest skyscraper built. But if each of the buildings had at least one block, the game was over and that player lost of half his/her winnings, which is why the player had a chance to stop & take the full amount when in a position to lose. Here are the payoffs: Niagara This was played the same way as the Splashdown game on Illinois' Luckiest and Flamingo Fortune. The player faced a board of 18 numbered rods, split into three rows (1-4 on top, 5-10 in the middle, and 11-18 on the bottom), each holding up a colored ball. Rods 1-4 held up two red and a green, the rest held seven yellow balls balls. The winner of the qualifying round would draw a number, and that number's rod was removed from the board. If a yellow ball ball splashed down into the water, the team won $6,000. If no balls splashed down, the team won $1,000. When Cheryl Washington took over, the payoffs were reduced to $2,500 for the yellow balls, and $500 for just the rod being removed. The game ended if a red ball or a green ball splashed down. If a red ball splashed down, either by itself or with other colored balls (even the green one) the player lost half of his/her winnings, which is why the player had a chance to stop & take the full amount when in a position to lose. If the green ball splashed down without a red ball (and with/without any yellow balls), the player won the Jackpot. Saratoga This game had a horse race setup. The winner of the qualifying round was shown a board with three horses - red, yellow, and blue. He/she was then shown a board of 12 numbered boxes, and asked to call out numbers, one at a time. It took four of any of a color to end the game and award the contestant a cash prize - $10,000 (later $5,000) (for red), $20,000 (later $10,000) (for yellow), or the "Big Purse", which was a cash prize of either $40,000 (later $20,000) or the Jackpot (for blue). To start the game, in case blue reached the finish line first, the contestant would choose from one of three flags, each of which hid a different cash amount. Two of the flags hid $40,000 (later $20,000), and the one remaining flag hid the word "JACKPOT". Treasure Quest The winner of the qualifying round stood at the beginning of a giant treasure map. The map had 15 colored circles (five of each color (red, blue and green)). At the end of the map were seven treasure chests, six of them represented $5,000 (originally $10,000), while the one up front represented the jackpot. A member of the studio audience representing the player's team was shown a mini treasure chest presented by Scott. Inside the chest were three jewels colored red, blue and green. Scott would shake up the chest just to mix up the jewels after which he opened it up again and then the audience member reached into the chest and pulled out a jewel; and whatever jewel he/she pulled out, that's when the player moved to the closest circle that matches the jewel. Each time a player stepped to the next circle, he/she received a treasure bag good for $5,000 (originally $10,000). When the player reached to the point where he/she might reach a chest, that player would then place the treasure bags to the chest he/she thought would land on other than the Jackpot chest. Whatever the chest chosen, the value of the treasure bags would then be added to the chest. Whatever treasure chest was hit, that's the amount his/her team won; if it was a chest without bags, he/she won $5,000 (originally $10,000), if it was a chest with bags, he/she won $5,000/$10,000 plus that amount for each bag placed on it, but if it was the Jackpot chest, he/she of course won the Jackpot. ---- Other games featured on this show included Lake Placid Racer and Coney Island Coaster. Audience Participation & School Donation Each contestant played for a colored section of the audience (red, yellow, and blue) and a school. Half of the winnings went to the appropriate section of the studio audience, while the other half went to the school the contestant was playing for. When the contestants were members of the studio audience representing their colored sections, the player & his/her team won & shared the entire amount, while the school (randomly selected before the show) they were playing for won $5,000. Rating Studio Chelsea Studios, New York City, NY Music Main – Unknown Others – Killer Tracks Round Transition – "E Ticket" by Larry Wolff First Think Cue – "Sig Alert!" by John Hobbs Second Think Cue – "A Glimpse of the Future" by Al Capps Correct Guess – "Psyched Up" by Larry Wolff Catchphrases "Players, how well do you know your fellow New Yorkers? We asked New Yorkers all over the state these questions." – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "Did more New Yorkers say… (insert three choices)?" – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "Welcome back, New Yorkers! The question was (insert question)? Now (contestant who rang in first), you said (answer). Is he/she right?" – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "(glass shatters) No, that's not right. Anyone else?" – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "(bling) Yes, that's right! You get one point!" – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "(glass shatters) No, it was (insert answer), so the point goes to (insert name)." – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "Remember, players, the first person who gets three points will move on to represent his/her team in our lottery games for a chance at a jackpot of (insert amount)!" – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington "Let's play (insert lottery game)!" – Janice Huff/Cheryl Washington Trivia *Much like the Illinois lottery shows, you could view NY Wired on a national basis if you had DirecTV or Dish Network's East Coast (New York City) package back then, since WNBC aired the first season on Saturdays at 7PM while WNYW aired the second on Sundays at midnight. *Some television stations that aired the program outside of the New York City media market included NBC affiliate WGRZ in Buffalo, ABC affiliate WTEN in Albany, and NBC affiliate WPTZ in Plattsburgh. Although the show was viewable on terrestrial television and cable television in southern Ontario, southwestern Quebec, Vermont, western Massachusetts, western Connecticut, New Jersey, and portions of Pennsylvania, only residents of New York state (as were most other single state lottery game shows) were eligible to participate in the show. *Original host Janice Huff was, at the time, a meteorologist for WNBC (and still is to this day). Second host Cheryl Washington was an on-air personality at WNYW. *The clangs, whoops, and dinging sounds have also been used on The Price is Right. The "trap" or "eroo" sound has also been used on Price, although it was first used on the 1984 game show Trivia Trap. In addition, the second sound effect used to indicated a correct answer during the qualifying round was taken from the news opens that were used by Milwaukee, Wisconsin Fox affiliate WITI between 1995 and 1998. *The largest Jackpot known to have been awarded in the first season ($60,000 base value) was $1,005,000 in a 1998 episode. The largest known win in the second season ($25,000 base value) was $360,250, during a 1999 show. YouTube Videos A full episode from 11/1/97, with a $393,000 Jackpot win at Niagara ("Splashdown" on other shows) *Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 A full episode from 8/15/98 (Jackpot starts at $220,000) *Part 1 *Part 2 Cheryl Washington's first show from September/October 1998 (with a $25,000 Jackpot win at Treasure Quest) *Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 Category:Regional Category:New York Category:Lottery Category:Gambling Category:Big Prize Category:Syndicated shows Category:Short-Running Category:Flops Category:1997 premieres Category:1999 endings